Don't Fear The Reaper
by Inumaru12
Summary: Lucas makes a strange friend. Everywhere Lucas goes; his friend is there to watch over him.  But soon enough, things go for the worse.  Children disappear, only to found dead and Lucas seems to be changing in a disturbing fashion.  Can anyone be saved?
1. Friend

**Title:** **Don't Fear The Reaper  
>Genre:<strong> Horror/Supernatural**  
>Rating:<strong> M**  
>Pairings:<strong> None**  
>Warnings:<strong> Horror/Supernatural stuff, Gore, Pyscho/crazy-ness, OOC-ness (but will be explainable)**  
>Disclaimer:<strong> No, I don't own Mother 3 or the idea/existence of Slender man.**  
>Summery:<strong> Lucas, alone in the woods, makes a strange friend. He plays games with him and feels peaceful in general. Everywhere Lucas goes; his friend is there to watch over him. But soon enough, things start to go for the worse. Children disappear, only to found dead in impossible ways and Lucas seems to be changing in a disturbing fashion. What is this dark figure that has made the Sunshine Forest his home and can anyone stop him?

**Don't Fear The Reaper**

**Chapter One: ****Friend**

It was a rare time when Lucas would be without his twin Claus. While they might not be identical twins they were still thick as thieves and each other's best friend. Today though, Claus had come down with a rather bad cold and Hinawa wanted the eldest to stay in bed and shooed Lucas away so he wouldn't get sick.

So, Lucas was alone and wandering the woods. He had gone to Fuel's house in hopes that maybe his friend could play but Lighter had answered the door, telling the blonde haired child that Fuel was sick also. Lighter said he probably caught it from Claus and Lucas was positive of it too. So with a few more words, Lighter sent Lucas off and told the boy to be careful in the woods.

He sighed, bored and unsure of what to do. He couldn't go home, as his mother would just send him away again, and he wasn't really friends with any of the girls so he wasn't about to head to town. Sighing in dismay, Lucas slumped to the ground against a tree. What was he to do then? He couldn't think of any games to play that only involved one person, and he couldn't imagine any interesting things like Claus did.

Lucas pulled his legs to his chest and put his head down. He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. Maybe if he closed his eyes he could imagine something. All he had to do was clear his mind and breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Soon enough Lucas forgot all about being alone in the woods.

He fell asleep.

**XxXxXxXx**

****The blond haired boy woke up hours later. He had shifted from his back against the tree to the ground, all curled up. The first think he realized was how dark it was. The sun had just gone down as the last of the day's sunlight was still peaking over the horizon as if urging Lucas to hurry home. He had never been alone in the woods at night before, heck, he had never been outside at night by himself before.

Fear flooded the boy's system, making him breathe heavily but in short spurts. What was he going to do? He wasn't sure which was out now because of the darkness. How was he going to get home? His stomach rumbled loudly and Lucas sobbed. He was so scared and now he was hungry. What else could go wrong?

There was a rustle in the woods and Lucas' heart was suddenly caught in his throat. He suddenly remembered every horrible monster Claus and Fuel had told him that existed in the woods. He closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. Maybe…Maybe if he didn't see it, it would just go away.

The sounds of something moving stopped but Lucas waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, after what he guessed was a good enough, he opened his eyes.

He saw black. Black pants to be exact. Lucas' heart jumped again and he looked up fearfully, trying to see who was the owner of the pants.

Lucas blinked. Oh.

"L-Leder? I-Is that you?" Lucas asked softly, his heart finally starting to slow down.

It was dark so Lucas couldn't see properly, but the only person he knew that was that tall was Leder. Besides, Lucas has never heard Leder speak before, and he wasn't saying anything yet.

Lucas let out a bit of short nervous but happy laughter. He had been so scared, but it had only been Leder. Man, if Claus had been here, he would've laughed at Lucas big time. Claus. Thinking of his brother made Lucas realize of where he should be at the moment.

"O-oh no. I need to get home. Leder? Do you know the way out? I think I'm lost."

The blond haired boy looked up at the tall man, still unable to see the tall man's face.

Leder said nothing as usual, but he didn't make any motions to move either. He seemed to be watching Lucas and the boy got the strange feeling that he was looking through him. He was just about to say something else when Leder finally turned and started heading down a path. He stop momentarily though to turn halfway and hold his hand out to Lucas.

Lucas smiled and took Leder's much larger hand with his own small child one. As they walked down the path, Lucas swinging their interlocked hands together happily. He was safe, he told himself. Leder would take out of the woods safely and soon enough he would get home and sit down and eat dinner.

Holding Leder's hand was very different then holding his mom's or dad's or even Claus' hand. While his parent's hands were always bigger than his, Ledger's hand was different. His fingers were thin and almost spider like as they nearly wrapped the entire way around his hand. His skin felt ice cold, and it made Lucas worry for the man. Did he not have any gloves? Maybe he should remember to ask his mom to make gloves for Ledger when he got home.

Suddenly the tall man stopped, causing Lucas to stop as well.

"Leder?"

Lucas looked up at the man and noticed there was a spray of moonlight on his chest, giving the boy a little visibility of his tall friend except the sight of a red tie. That didn't matter at the moment though, because moonlight and Leder stopping meant the same thing: he was at the opening of the forest.

"Yes!" Cheered Lucas before turning around to look at Leder who was still in the shadows of the trees. "Thank you Leder! I would have never found my way out for you."

The blond boy paused though, looking at the tall man with a furrowed brow. The light was getting better, and Leder was stepping out from the safety of the shadows and into the moonlight.

Lucas gasped. This person was Leder at all. In fact, he didn't think _it_ was a human even. Unnaturally tall (he realizes now, it is so much taller than Leder), pale as the moon skin, and a very, very slender body. _It_ wore a suit, as if hoping to blend in with humans, and a blood red tie. _It's_ most noticeable feature was actually none at all.

_It_ had no face. No eyes, no mouth, no nose. Though _it_ had no eyes to see, Lucas felt like _it_ was looking right through him, through his soul. Lucas said nothing, he felt nothing. _It _was as if all his emotions had been sapped from him and he was an emotionless husk, ready to be buried in the ground.

Strangely enough though, _it_ turned and walked back into the forest and simply,

Disappeared.

Lucas isn't sure how he got back home, but the next thing he remembers is the front door opening and his father's surprised and relieved look on his face. He hugs Lucas, but for the life of him, Lucas can't remember if he hugged back. His mother and father spoke to great lengths to him that night, but everything was a blur. Suddenly he was in the spare bedroom (his brother was still sick), getting tucked into bed by his mother and father. They kissed him goodnight and he fell to the land of nod.

He wakes up later, not sure why but knows immediately why when he sees the corner of the room. _It_ is standing in the corner, watching him. He doesn't know why, but he just knows that _it_ likes to watch. Lucas doesn't feel the fear from before. The mind and body numbing fear he had felt before wasn't there and instead, he finds a comfort of sorts.

_It_ is watching over him. _It_ is protecting him.

Lucas lays his head back down and speaks a small "Goodnight" to his protector.

_It_ stood in the corner, waiting.

**XxXxXxXx**

****The next day Lucas visited the forest alone again. Claus was still sick but for the first time in a long while, the boy thought of himself before his brother and went to play.

_It_ was there again, only this time it was completely bathed in the light of the sun. He didn't look so scary in the daytime, Lucas thought to himself as he walked towards _it_. The fear from the night before was all gone, and instead, Lucas found himself glad to have met _it_. _It_ had saved him and led him home and even watched over him at night. He was a friend.

A friend.

Lucas smiled at his new friend, and he could almost imagine the new smile on his new friend's face.

_It_ watched the blond boy and pulled the strings surrounding this boy tighter and the boy did what he wanted.

What a good boy.

**TBC…**

**Inumaru12: ****FIRST OFF:** For those of you who don't know what Slender Man is, go to TvTropes(dot)Org and check out the page there. While Slendy won't be exactly as others imagine him, I'm going to try and keep him as in character (as in character as a nightmare giving monster can be). Hopefully this peaks your intrest and you want to read more. I love horror, especially writing it and I feel like I hardly have the change to write it anymore. (All I see to write is angst or fluff stuff)

Please keep in mind that this is going to get violent soon. Also, there will prob. be less than ten chapters. I wanna keep this short. Hope you like it! Tell me what you think! :)


	2. Strange

**Title:** **Don't Fear The Reaper  
>Genre:<strong> Horror/Supernatural**  
>Rating:<strong> M**  
>Pairings:<strong> None**  
>Warnings:<strong> Horror/Supernatural stuff, Gore, Pyscho/crazy-ness, OOC-ness (but will be explainable)**  
>Disclaimer:<strong> No, I don't own Mother 3 or the idea/existence of Slender man.**  
>Summery:<strong> Lucas, alone in the woods, makes a strange friend. He plays games with him and feels peaceful in general. Everywhere Lucas goes; his friend is there to watch over him. But soon enough, things start to go for the worse. Children disappear, only to found dead in impossible ways and Lucas seems to be changing in a disturbing fashion. What is this dark figure that has made the Sunshine Forest his home and can anyone stop him?

**Don't Fear The Reaper**

**Chapter Two: ****Strange**

****Hinawa was in the kitchen, humming to herself as she prepared dinner. It was getting late and the sun was beginning to set. As she set the plates and dining wear down at the table her husband, Flint, walked into the house. He put his coat on the rack along with his hat and walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek.

The woman gave a pleased hum and kissed him right back. The rugged man's lips twitched into a smile. 

"How's Claus?" He asked.

"He's still a little sick, but I think he'll get better soon though. His fever just broke so he should be better by tomorrow but I think I'll keep him in a little longer to make sure. I don't want him to lose it just for it to come right back." Hinawa cooed at the thought of what was sure of what the look on her son's face going to be like when he realized he had to stay in the house an day extra.

Flint chuckled softly and began to look around, his small smile fading.

"Where's Lucas?"

Now both parents were frowning. Flint pursed his lips and looked towards the door. This was the second time Lucas had come home late. The other night had been a terrible scare for both Flint and Hinawa. The sun had set and the time that Lucas would've usually been home by had long past. Just as the father had been ready to go out and look for his son, said boy was actually at the door.

They had been relieved but understandably upset. They had tried to keep their cool and teach their youngest son about how dangerous it was to stay out after dark and how to come home at his curfew. But Lucas had been…strange to put it mildly. He seemed unresponsive except for the automatic answers he gave and he had stared blankly at them. They had been very concerned that maybe something strange had happed to him when Lucas gave a big yawn.

The mother and father relaxed slightly. Maybe this was why he had been out so late and was so unresponsive? Lucas was tired from playing all day perhaps? Flint carried the boy to the spare bedroom and was shocked at how cold his son was. Maybe he was getting sick too; or maybe it was from being outside at night? Flint wasn't sure of either, but he and Hinawa tucked him and rubbed his arms slightly to warm him up. They kissed him goodnight and watched as he fell asleep quickly in front of them. The next morning, this morning in fact, Lucas had seemed fine. He ate his breakfast and was quickly out the door to go play, surprising Hinawa and Flint.

Now it was late again and their son wasn't back again. It made Flint worried and angry at the same time. Didn't they just talk to Lucas about this? But before the two parents could do anything, the door opened and the son they had just been talking about walked in.

"Lucas!" Hinawa and Flint quickly made their way over to their son, looking him over.

"Hi mom, hi dad. What's for dinner?" Lucas asked, quite oblivious the worry he had caused.

"Why are you so late? It is nearly dark and we asked you last night to not stay out so late." A bit of anger seeped into Hinawa's voice, but it was understandable.

Lucas looked surprised, then confused.

"What? It's that late? Oh…I'm sorry. I lost track of playing I guess. Time seemed to fly by."

Their youngest son's nonchalant reply made the parents pause in slight shock. They would expect a reply like that from Claus, not the responsible Lucas. The child didn't even seem truly apologetic.

Hinawa huffed and put her fists on her hips.

"We were very worried Lucas, especially after last night. I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you. That means no desert tonight." She said, hoping that would get through to the boy.

Instead he just blinked and then nodded in compliance.

"Okay, I understand. I'll go wash up for dinner."

With that, the boy was gone from their sight once again. Hinawa's scowl loosened but she still frowned. Flint put his arm around her and rubbed her arm in comfort before leaning over and kissing her cheek softly.

"We'll talk about it later." He said softly, still just as surprised as she was.

Hinawa hesitated but nodded and turned back to cooking when she heard the bathroom door open.

The rest of that night's dinner was in an unusual silence. Lucas seemed to be hurrying through his food, although he was usually one that took his time and savored it. Once he was done he picked up his plate and walked to the sink to quickly wash it. Once it was clean and set to dry, Lucas turned back to his mother and nodded.

"Thank you for the meal, it was very good."

Before Hinawa could even get a word in, Lucas turned and headed straight for the guest bedroom he was staying. Neither parent said anything; both unsure what to say. They had never gotten any treatment from either of their children like this before. How were they supposed to react? Yell, demand respect, ask why they are acting this way, or just let it continue? If anything, they expected not have to deal with this kind of aloofness until their teen years.

Flint took Hinawa's hand and the woman closed her eyes in contemplation.

**XxXxXxXx**

****It was later that night when the moon had risen far into the sky and the two adults were alone in their room tucked in their own bed.

"It's just not like Lucas though." Hinawa said not for the first time that night. Her head was on Flint's chest as his arm was wrapped around her waist in a comforting manner.

"I know dear." Flint said patiently. "It is strange that Lucas is acting like this, but perhaps it's just because Claus isn't there. I'm sure that when Claus is better and the two are out playing together again he will be back to normal. You know how often those boys are together. They are basically each other's half."

The woman gave a wry smile to herself as she thought of how the other town's women would be shocked at how much Flint spoke, but only with her. He always knew the right things to say too, Hinawa smiled. She leaned her head back and kissed him soundly on the lips.

"I'm sure you're right." She admitted. "Lucas will probably be back to his normal self when Claus gets better. Hopefully they both get well soon."

Flint hummed and kissed the top of his wife's head and soon he felt her breathing even out and fall into a peaceful sleep. Even though he wished to join her, Flint couldn't feel the sands of sleep guide him to dreamland. He felt uneasy. Even though he had convinced his wife that everything would be alright, he had felt a wave of absolute wrongness after he had said those words to her.

He swallowed back the sick feeling that was beginning to gather in his throat and forced himself to close his eyes and try to sleep. When he finally did fall asleep, he was plagued with nightmares. Terrors of Lucas disappearing and of something chasing Flint through the forest filled the man with such a primal and panicked sense of fear that he had never felt before.

By the time he woke up the next morning though, the dream quickly faded from his mind. All that was left behind was a horrible sense of foreboding.

**TBC…**

**Inumaru12:** Hey guys! Yes, I know this chapter is slow/boring but it's necessary. Next chapter is going to be a little slow but the end is going to be very important. The end of the third chapter and the beginning of the fourth is going to start the rising action. Hopefully you all stick with me until then (and after). Hopefully I can make it scary too. :) Please review and tell me what you think!


	3. Rain

**Title:** **Don't Fear The Reaper  
>Genre:<strong> Horror/Supernatural**  
>Rating:<strong> M**  
>Pairings:<strong> None**  
>Warnings:<strong> Horror/Supernatural stuff, Gore, Pyscho/crazy-ness, OOC-ness (but will be explainable)**  
>Disclaimer:<strong> No, I don't own Mother 3 or the idea/existence of Slender man.**  
>Summery:<strong> Lucas, alone in the woods, makes a strange friend. He plays games with him and feels peaceful in general. Everywhere Lucas goes; his friend is there to watch over him. But soon enough, things start to go for the worse. Children disappear, only to found dead in impossible ways and Lucas seems to be changing in a disturbing fashion. What is this dark figure that has made the Sunshine Forest his home and can anyone stop him?

**Don't Fear The Reaper**

**Chapter Three: ****Rain**

It was dark and raining today. Usually Lucas disliked rainy days, but today was different. Claus was still cooped up in their room on strict bed rest from their mother and Lucas was spending the day indoors. He wished it wasn't raining; that way, he could go outside and play with his friend. But instead, he was forced to stay indoors by his mother who didn't want him getting sick like his brother.

What to do, he wondered to himself. Playing board games was impossible with only one person, and both his parents were much too busy to stop and play with him. He wasn't in the mood to read and besides, he had read most of the books they owned.

Sighing to himself, Lucas tried to think of something to occupy his time. He decided to look through both his and his brother's toys in hope that something would cure his boredom. While pushing around the toys and games, Lucas let out a small gasp of surprise.

Crayons! And not just crayons either, it was the super jumbo pack with the crayon sharpener in the back. How could Lucas have forgotten all about this birthday gift that his parents had gotten Claus and him.

Opening it up, the blonde boy smiled seeing that most of the crayons were in there and mostly untouched. Quickly, the young boy scurried around looking for spare paper he could find. He finally found a barely used drawling book. Lucas could tell by the deformed creatures on the pages that Claus had used it last before throwing it to the side. His brother wasn't a very good artist.

Ripping those pages out, the blond haired boy nodded to himself; now it was new. He took a black crayon to the page and stopped before he touched the paper. What should he draw? Should he draw his family? His brother? His mother? His father and even Boney? He was sure if he did something like that his mother would coo as usual and tell him how good it was and then post it on the refrigerator like all the other times he had done just that.

For some reason, it left Lucas feeling empty. He didn't want to draw his family; he wanted to draw…_It_.

A wide grin crossed the young boy's face as he thought of his new friend. He had never felt so at ease with someone before, except his own brother. He could be himself and talk about whatever and do whatever because _it_ would watch over him and protect him. Sometimes though, Lucas would feel a strange feeling. It was deep inside him and it sometimes would arise at weird times and he had the urge to run away. Before he could even wonder why he should run away, the feeling was gone and in its place was a warm feeling. Lucas loved that warm feeling and it made him very happy and peaceful. Sometimes though, during that warm feeling time would pass much faster than he expected.

Lucas would close his eyes, and then all of the sudden an hour or so has past and he doesn't remember what happened. It happened quite a bit the other day, now that Lucas thought about it. He wondered why, but he couldn't understand why. He quit trying to think about it after a while though, because it began to hurt his head trying to think about it. He let go of those strange thoughts and promptly forgot about it. He was soon too wound up in his drawling and lost track of time.

When Hinawa came to call Lucas for dinner, her son had been at it for many hours. There were many drawings all spread out around him as he laid on the ground of the spare bedroom floor working hard on the picture. Her voice stopped in her throat as she looked in amazement at all the pictures. Some were just strange scribbles with some kind of figure in it but it was impossible to tell for sure as the scribble was black.

There were many pictures of trees. Very, very tall trees. There weren't many other pictures that weren't like that, so the mother went and looked over her son's shoulder to see what he was drawling at the moment. It was a picture of the forest again, but this time Lucas was in it holding hands with…Was that Leder? It had to be, but he didn't have hair or even a face!

Hinawa giggled slightly. She remembered that when she was a child she often thought Leder was tall as a mountain too.

"Lucas, sweetie, it's time for you to get ready for dinner." Her voice sang softly as she touched her son's shoulder.

Lucas flinched at the sudden contact and turned around quickly. He relaxed seeing his mother and gave her a small smile.

"Hi mama."

Hinawa giggled again and held a hand out to Lucas to help him up. Her son giggled along with her and held her hand tightly as she lead him out of the spare room and towards the bathroom for him to clean up.

In the weeks to come, that would be the last time Hinawa would ever see him smile or giggle so true to himself.

**XxXxXxXx**

****It was very late; at least, that's what Alle thought at least. She wasn't sure why she had woken up so late but she got up anyway to head downstairs and get a glass of water. The white haired girl walked sleepily through her room, mindful of the toys of course, and headed for the stairs.

There was a knock on the window.

Alle froze, her young mind jumping to many horrible possibilities. What if there were monsters out there? What could even reach her second story window though? Would it be like a vampire that Claus had told her about once? Or would it be something even worse?

The knocking continued.

Steeling herself as much as possible, Alle pulled back the window's curtain with a shaking hand.

First thing she saw was a suit and a blood red tie. It took her a moment to realize but when she did the fear was gone in a matter of seconds. It was Leder standing at her window. Alle smiled lightly but was confused as to why the tall man was here so late. Opening her window, the young girl began to speak to Leder.

"Mr. Leder, what are you doing up so late? Why are you even here?"

Silence. Leder said nothing, but Alle wasn't surprised. After all, Leder never spoke. Why would anyone be up this late she wondered to herself. Shouldn't Leder be asleep in bed; after all, even adults needed sleep. She was surprised once again though when the man held an hand out to her.

"What? You want me come with you? But it's so late and I'm in my nighty!" She flushed lightly as she realized she had shouted. She had to be quiet or else her parents would wake up and she would get in trouble.

Suddenly a realization came to the fair haired child. She was up late, and she could have the chance to play outside late-something no other kid in Tazmily had ever dared to do. They would think she was cool and maybe even Claus would let her play with him. Alle blushed lightly as she thought of the boy she admired.

"O-okay! I'll come; just let me get my slippers on."

She quickly went to get her slippers and make sure her parents were asleep and in a quick moment of genius thought, she stuffed an extra pillow under her blanket and made it seem as if she was asleep in her bed. She grinned at her smart idea and quickly ran back to the window.

Leder was still waiting, his arm held out to her and his face hidden in the darkness. She held her arms out to him and he picked her up with both hands by her waist. She shivered. His hands were ice cold through her thin night gown, along with the temperature. She grabbed his suit with her small hands and pulled herself closer to him, curling into his chest.

Alle was cold, and the arms wrapped around her didn't make her any warmer but she ignored it for now. She looked all around, taking in the sight of her town from such a different height. It was amazing. Soon though, Leder was out of the town and past the bell tower. She wondered where they would be heading to play and it wasn't until she saw the forest that she began to feel a little uneasy. Why would Leder take her to the forest? She wasn't allowed in there by herself most of the time anyway. Her father always told her that there were some wild animals in there that would hurt her and to stay away.

Well, she thought to herself, she wasn't alone now. She had Leder with her after all. Alle smiled as they reached the opening of the forest and smiled up at Leder.

Her smile disappeared.

His face. His face wasn't Leder's face. _He didn't have a face._ It. _It_. _It_ wasn't even human. It moved _its_ face from looking at the forest to looking down at her. A feeling filled Alle that she was so strange; something she had never felt.

Pure fear.

She struggled but the creature had her wrapped in _its_ arms tightly. She did everything she was supposed to. She screamed, she hit, she kicked but that did nothing to stop the creature. _It_ simply walked deeper into the woods where her voice became muffled.

Soon enough, she stopped screaming.

**TBC…**

**Inumaru12:** Okay guys, from here on, things are gonna get dark. Very dark. If a child's death/murder isn't enough to convince you that this is gonna be dark then, well, keep reading if you want proof. But, if you're sticking with me and gonna read till the very end I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Hope you all will enjoy this piece of mine~

Please review and tell me what you think.

ALSO, Happy holidays everyone! :D


	4. Death

**Title:** **Don't Fear The Reaper  
>Genre:<strong> Horror/Supernatural**  
>Rating:<strong> M**  
>Pairings:<strong> None**  
>Warnings:<strong> Horror/Supernatural stuff, Gore, Pyscho/crazy-ness, OOC-ness (but will be explainable)**  
>Disclaimer:<strong> No, I don't own Mother 3 or the idea/existence of Slender man.**  
>Summery:<strong> Lucas, alone in the woods, makes a strange friend. He plays games with him and feels peaceful in general. Everywhere Lucas goes; his friend is there to watch over him. But soon enough, things start to go for the worse. Children disappear, only to found dead in impossible ways and Lucas seems to be changing in a disturbing fashion. What is this dark figure that has made the Sunshine Forest his home and can anyone stop him?

**Don't Fear The Reaper**

**Chapter Four: ****Death**

It was early in the morning when Nan awoke. She yawned and stretched as she got out of bed. As the sands of sleep began to leave her, the blond haired woman looked around. Her husband was already awake and from the lump from her daughter's bed, Alle was having a bit of a lie in. Nan smiled and decided to let her daughter sleep in for a while.

The mother quickly got dressed and started to do her daily chores, never noticing that the lump under the covers were too still to be natural.

**XxXxXxXx**

Fuel was walking through the woods towards town. He had to go pick up some things for his dad, plus he wanted to see how Claus was doing. His friend had been sick for a couple days now and he hadn't seen Lucas at all since then. The young brunette assumed that Lucas was staying at home, waiting for his brother to get better.

It must be nice, Fuel thought to himself, to have a brother to watch out for you, care for you, and play with all the time. The brunette wished he had one himself, but shook his head out of those thoughts. While it would be nice, he was happy with the little family he had with his father.

_Drip._

The young boy blinked. What was the noise? It sounded almost like raindrops but that couldn't be true. It was a beautiful and sunny day; not a cloud in the sky. Shrugging, Fuel carried on without a care in the world.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

Something wet his Fuel's head, and then another two drops hit his forehead and ran down his face. Blinking, he raised a hand to wipe away whatever it was. Pulling his hand back, his eyes widened with surprise as he saw a red smear on his hand. Was that blood? With wide eyes, Fuel looked up towards the source of the dripping.

Fuel didn't understand what he was seeing. His mind was so innocent, so young. He had never experienced death before so he wasn't sure how comprehend what was in front of him. It looked like a person, but that couldn't be. A person couldn't be that high in a tree could they? Not even Claus could climb that high, and he was the best climber Fuel knew!

But a person was up there and they weren't moving.

"Hey!" Fuel yelled to the figure. There was no answer.

"HEY!" He yelled again, putting his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

Not sure what to do, Fuel contemplated if he should just walk away and pretend not to see them when the wind began to blow. The trees bended to the wind's will; along with the one Fuel was standing in front of. The swaying of the trees caused the figure in the tree to shift, and then finally fall.

The young boy happened to look up and seeing the person falling right towards him and scrambled out of the way. Putting his arms over his head for protection, Fuel only opened his eyes when he heard a sickening crunch. His heart was beating rapidly from his almost possible death and it didn't stop when he looked towards where the crash had been.

There on the forest floor was the person who had been in the tree laying face down. All around them was splatters of blood, _so much blood_, and Fuel felt a panic and fear overtake him.

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no. Ohnonononono!"

Fuel's breathing became labored and his hands shook. He crawled over to body, hoping they weren't dead from the fall. Grabbing the person's shoulders, realizing briefly that they looked very familiar, and turned them around onto their back.

The body slipped from his fingers as he stared. There was blood alright, but it had to have been there even before the fall. The body, a girl Fuel could barely recognized because of the mutilation done to her. Her eyes were completely gone, leaving two gaping bloody holes. The girl's mouth was open in an unfinished scream with blood staining the lips. Her once pure as snow hair was tainted with red and dirt, making it matted. The clothes were soaked with blood which was still wet and torn and the girl's chest and stomach looked like it had been ripped open and her insides pulled out.

The horror and fear filled him completely, fogging his mind from all rational thought. He stood up on shaking legs and tried to run but couldn't as his stomach forced his breakfast up. After giving all there was to give, he once again tried to run and this time his legs stayed steady enough. He had to get home. He had to get back to his dad. His dad would make things right.

Oblivious to everything but his fear, Fuel ran. If he had been paying attention, he would've seen a shadow of a rather tall figure watching and the small chuckle that came from it.

The game of cat and mouse had begun.

**XxXxXxXx**

****Claus was happy. After days of being sick, he was finally able to leave his stuffy room and go outside. Claus had always been the more active of the twins, so being forced to stay inside all day was torture. To make it even worse, Lucas had hardly visited him! The red haired boy was miffed about that and was going to let the blond know it…but he promptly forgot about it when Hinawa served him his first omelet in days. It was pure bliss and he made noises of happiness to show it.

Flint chuckled, ruffling his son's hair before sitting in his own chair.

"I'm sure you're happy to be up and about, huh Claus?" Flint remarked, kissing his wife on the cheek as she placed an omelet on his plate.

"Yeah! I'm going to go out and play all day long!" The child exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air and grinning like a fool.

"Well, make sure you take care of yourself though." Hinawa chimed in, "It wouldn't do for you to get even worse just as you got better."

"Yeah, I'll be fine mom. Besides, I'm sure Lucas will nag me if he thinks I'm overdoing it." Claus' grin faded as he realized something.

"Hey, where is Lucas?"

Hinawa sighed lightly. "I'm sure he's probably sleeping in again. I'll go wake him up."

Putting her spatula down, she headed for the spare room just as there was rapid knocking on the front door. Flint got up, curious as to why someone would be knocking like that early in the morning. Opening the door, Flint found Thomas looking worse for wear. He was pale and panting.

"Flint, you're home! That's great! Something terrible has happened. There-" Thomas cut himself off though, seeing Claus looking curiously out the door from his position at the table.

"Uh, maybe this is best to talk about outside."

Flint turned his head slightly and saw his son listening in unashamed and nodded back to Thomas. Walking out side and closing the door tightly behind him, the two took a few paces away from the door before speaking.

"What is this about Thomas?" Flint asked, his voice with a low undercurrent of concern.

"Flint…Something horrible has happened. A body of a child was found in the forest today completely mutilated."

"What!" Flint gasped in shock and horror.

"We...We think it may be Alle but we can't tell for sure."

"Can't…Can't tell for sure?" The cowboy like man mumbled, still trying to come to terms to what this meant. To what had actually happened.

"H-Her body was very mutilated." Was all Thomas said.

Feeling weak, Flint clutched the side of the house as leverage.

"How, what, who-? D-do Nan and Ed know?"

A guilty look crossed the dark haired man's face and Flint let out a shocked gasp mixed with a laugh. "You haven't?"

"We've been trying to hold it off. We didn't want to cause an panic and, well…Just because it doesn't seem real."

Flint could understand this logic, even if he didn't agree with it. If God forbid, one of his kids were murdered, he'd want to know so he could find the bastard that killed them and repay them for their sins. A shiver ran up Flint's spine from that thought and the man couldn't shake it.

"Who else knows?" He asked, trying to ignore the horrible feeling.

Thomas sighed. "You, me, the mayor, Lighter and Fuel."

"Fuel?" Flint exclaimed, startled.

"Yes. He…He was actually the one who found the body."

"Oh God, that poor boy." A horrible pity and pain for the boy that was his brother, in all but blood, son.

"Yeah, he told his father everything but he hasn't spoken since then. But the really strange thing though is that even though the body-"

"Alle." Flint said firmly. He refused to unattached himself to the girl-or her body.

"Alle, sorry, was that he said that her body was in the tree before it feel. The question is, how did it get up there?"

Just as Flint was about to ask another question, the front door of the house suddenly opened. Hinawa came out, looking around for Flint.

"Flint! It's Lucas! I can't find Lucas!"

The man felt fear and dread overtake him.

**TBC**

**Inumaru12:** Hey guys! Sorry about the long wait! I've been ultra busy with school and work and whenever I had free time to write I just wasn't in the mood. Hopefully though I can have the next couple of chapters up sooner than later. :)

**EXTRA IMPORTANT NOTE:** Hey guys, I'm almost to my 100 mark in my story count on fanfiction(dot)net! Isn't this exciting? :) I have a poll up on my profile for which I should write for my 100th story. Hopefully you'll read my poll and answer it for me! Thanks for that and reading and reviewing! :)


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